Karachi: Turbans, veils, and a state carriage
T HE TAIL GATE flipped down as
our truck lurched forward. Losing
my balance, I tumbled out headfirst onto
the pavement. Films and lenses rolled
down the street. I looked up: Six black
horses clattered toward me. Clutch
ing my cameras, I scurried into the
gutter just in time to photograph Mr.
Eisenhower as his carriage rumbled by
(left). This was my introduction to
Pakistan.
The President's first moments in this
young Asian country, though more dig
nified, were no less exciting. From his
open car he waved to
cheering Pathan tribesmen
wearing baggy white
trousers, long-tailed white
shirts, and faded turbans.
Had he looked closely, the
President could have seen
black-veiled Moslem
women in purdah-se
clusion-peering at him
through curtained lat
tices; these women dress
in burqas - shapeless,
head-to-toe gowns with
tiny eyehole slits.
Certainly Mr. Eisen
hower saw a unique wel
come of bright saris-long
scarflike garments of red,
blue, green, and yellow
flying from lines strung
atop orange-tiled roofs.
He visited Moslem ref
ugees who had come to
Pakistan from Hindu In
dia and waved to the skin
ny, naked little boys, the
toothless old women
racked with disease, and
the barefoot men draped
in rags. It is for these
people that Pakistan's
President Mohammed
Ayub Khan is rushing to
completion his United
States-financed housing
development.
In Karachi the two
Presidents climbed aboard
the state carriage-a scar
let-and-gold-trimmed,
605
black horse-drawn coach. A horde of
Pakistanis jam-packed the streets yell
ing, "Ike zindabad, Ike zindabad!"
(Long live Ike!).
Modern Karachi women waved U. S.
flags. Men, clad in pajamalike cotton
trousers and Western white shirts, clung
to window bars, dangled from high bal
conies, and shinnied up street-light poles
for a better view.
From his goatskin canteen a Pakistani
vendor (below) peddled water to thirsty
crowds waiting under the scorching sun
to cheer the President.